Saccopastore skulls
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Two fossil crania were discovered along the Aniene River Valley of Northern Rome, Italy in 1929 and 1935. The two human skulls that derive from ''
Homo neanderthalensis Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...
'' were located in a quarry along the Aniene River in gravel and sand beds that have since been replaced by building areas with the city. From geomorphological classification, the two skulls were assigned to the
Tyrrhenian stage ::''This is a Geological time scale article, for archaeology, see Etruscan civilization'' The Tyrrhenian Stage is the last faunal stage of the Pleistocene in Italy. It runs from 0.26 million (260,000) to 0.01143 million (11,430) years ago. It ove ...
due to their location within a small hill approximately 5 meters above the river. The area in which they were found at the time was called Saccopastore, which is where these two crania get their name. The first Saccopastore skull, discovered by Sergio Sergi, and the second Saccopastore skull, discovered by Professors Breuil and
Alberto Carlo Blanc Alberto Carlo Blanc (30 July 1906 – 3 July 1960, Rome) was an Italian paleontologist who studied human evolution. He was a professor at the University of Pisa, Rome and is best known for the discovery of the Circeo neanderthal skull in February 1 ...
, both show greater basicranial flexion compared to those of the Wurmian Neandertals, due to the extreme inclination of the planum sphenoidalis. The skulls' ages likely ranges from 100,000 to 300,000 years, and they show an extremely high level of fossilisation. After being discovered, the skulls were kept at the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Rome until
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when they were taken by Professor Sergio Sergi to be preserved and kept safe from German officers who were seeking fossil treasures. After a time, they stayed with Sergi and became part of his own private collection. In 2015, the fossils were re-dated and found to be much earlier than previously thought. The new study concluded that the fossils should be dated to around 250,000 years ago, pushing back their age by over 100,000 years and thus surpassing
Altamura Man The Altamura Man is a fossil of the genus ''Homo'' discovered in 1993 in a karst sinkhole in the Lamalunga Cave near the city of Altamura, Italy. Remarkably well preserved but covered in a thick layer of calcite taking the shape of cave popcor ...
as the earliest evidence for Neanderthals in Italy. The new study was a collaborative effort conducted by geologists from the
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology ( it, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV) is a research institute for geophysics and volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, mag ...
working in collaboration with anthropologists and paleontologists from
Sapienza University The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...
and the
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
. This new dating is in line with the perceived age of the eleven stone artifacts found alongside the Saccopastore fossils, which were thought to have been older than the previously assessed date for the fossils.


Saccopastore 1

In April 1929, workmen of the quarry located near the Aniene River discovered a human cranium that looked to be fossilized. The skull was immediately delivered to Sergio Sergi, who began a long series of studies on the fossil. The Saccopastore skull was labeled a mature female. It is almost completely intact and overall shows a high degree of mineralization, even though it is missing both of the
zygomatic arches In anatomy, the zygomatic arch, or cheek bone, is a part of the skull formed by the zygomatic process of the temporal bone (a bone extending forward from the side of the skull, over the opening of the ear) and the temporal process of the zygomati ...
and the
mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...
. After being discovered, the skull had taken damage by the workmen within the quarry. This included a number of dental crowns being broken and lost, along with some other damage to the supraorbital area and two holes punctured into the frontal and parietal areas of the vault.


Saccopastore 2

In the summer of 1935, A.C. Blanc and H. Breuil discovered another, less complete cranium in the same area where the first skull was found in 1929. The second Saccopastore skull is identified as a male and is lacking the entire vault, along with the left front orbital areas, and part of the base. Morphological differences between the two skulls are the result of
sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
because one is a mature female, and the other is a young adult male. The skull has a cranial capacity estimated around 1,280 and 1,300 ml, and the facial size is smaller than that of a Wurmian Neandertal's, but larger than the first Saccopastore skull.


References


External links


Museum of Anthropology Giuseppe Sergi Rome
1929 in Italy 1935 in Italy Sapienza University of Rome Neanderthal fossils 1929 in science 1934 in science {{Paleo-hominin-stub